Sandoval County pantry sees donations drop as demand rises
St. Felix Pantry is serving more than 600 guests a week while summer donations sag, threatening smaller food boxes in Rio Rancho.
Shrinking donations are colliding with a growing line at St. Felix Pantry in Rio Rancho, where volunteers said the shelves are thinning even as more Sandoval County families depend on the pantry for groceries. The pantry is serving more than 600 guests a week during a nine-hour window on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and people begin lining up as early as 6:30 a.m. on Thursday mornings.
Pantry president and CEO Tim Sheahan said the summer drop in food donations is hitting at the same time as higher costs and changes to SNAP benefit requirements are pushing more people through the doors. St. Felix Pantry said it may have to cut back the amount of food it gives out soon, a change that would hit families already stretching each box through the week.
The pantry is trying to keep those boxes balanced with fruits, vegetables and grains, but its own materials show how specific the need has become. A 2025 flyer said St. Felix Pantry serves over 500 individuals and households each week and listed dried beans and rice, canned beans and vegetables, pasta and pasta sauce, canned fish and meats, peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, dried fruit and nuts, and instant mashed potatoes among the most needed items.
St. Felix Pantry is open Thursday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at 4020 Barbara Loop SE in Rio Rancho, and it takes weekly registered clients. To keep pace with demand, the pantry is working with Storehouse West and Rio Grande Food Project and is reaching out to local first responders to organize community food drives.
The strain at St. Felix Pantry reflects a wider hunger problem across New Mexico. State health data say the USDA estimated that more than 350,000 New Mexicans, including over 100,000 children, were food insecure in 2023. Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap put the state’s food insecurity rate at 16.6% and estimated an annual food budget shortfall of $220,456,000. NM-IBIS says food insecurity can force households to choose between food and essentials such as housing or medical bills, while also being linked to higher rates of hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.
Earlier KRQE coverage said St. Felix Pantry had seen a 36% increase in Sandoval County residents facing some level of food insecurity, underscoring how the pressure has built over time. Feeding America says food insecurity affects every county in its New Mexico service area, and the next updated Map the Meal Gap release is scheduled for late July 2026.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
